As I left the library I noticed some dark clouds and a few drops of rain...but my handy iPhone weather forecaster said the showers wouldn't arrive until 6pm so I had a little time to skedaddle. Of course the station was packed and train D to Riverside was packed, so packed that I couldn't get on the first one but I had to wait until a another one came because there wasn't any room.
Two interesting things happened though while I was waiting. First it gave me a chance to observe the station... I had some time on my hands (it always seems like it takes forever for train D). But as I was standing there watching the people I saw a guy dressed in red-sox gear with a badge around his neck. At first I thought it was just a flamboyant piece of jewelry, but then he seemed to be interrogating these two girls. I glanced around again and saw another guy, dressed like a fan as well writing what appeared to be a ticket to some guy. I looked at his badge a little harder, and sort of listened to what he was saying and realized that he was either from Boston PD or MBTA personnel (I think it was PD). Anyways these two officers were patrolling the gates and citing people who were not paying the fares. It was kind of cool to watch because I always wondered how they stopped people from just walking through.
The second isn't so much interesting as it is frustrating. During times of heavy traffic the station or even the actual train are not handicap friendly. The platform at this time in the day is full of people and the trains are even more packed. A woman in an electric wheelchair was waiting for a train, constantly going up and down the platform, which caused problems because people were standing there...like me. Now I am not someone who is inconsiderate of other people people, when the train comes I always try to let someone who may be older in front of me because standing sucks, or giving up your seat for someone else. I'm a good guy...well I'm also the guy who got mowed over by the woman in the chair. As I was waiting to board the first train (which I was unsuccessful in doing) this woman side-swipped me and this other lady. Luckily she was wearing pants, but I wasn't which caused her wheelchair to cut into my leg........
The woman next to be was pissed and sure I guess she has every right to be, but I'm the one that almost lost a leg (not really). The woman in the chair paid no attention and just kept moving along, up and down... until she finally boarded a train. Of course being the paranoid person I am I immediately washed the cut and applied an alcohol wipe to it to hope that I don't get an infection from the nasty bacteria that lives in the station and on the trains... Ok... ok... so it wasn't that bad...but in the moment just image being stuck on a crowded platform, missing a train, having to wait, being packed like a sardine, and then have someone scrape your leg with metal...it sucks.
Here is a picture of the storm clouds that were rolling in:
Lesson of the day: Beware of your surroundings, and people on motorized machines.
